For over two years now, I have been trying to lose weight. And I have been successful. I have lost lots of weight. Over 12 stone gone and well on the way to reaching my target weight. I have gone from a size xxxxl to size medium and I have embraced physical activity.
I should be delighted. And in many ways I am. I am fitter and happier than I have ever been.
However, in my pursuit of weight loss, I have developed an obsession. I have scales at home and it is a great set of scales. I love my scales. No, I really love my scales. There is not a day goes by that I don’t pay it a visit. Some days I even say hello more than once. I track my morning weight, my evening weight and even my post exercise and eating weights. I love analysing the fluctuating readings. I live to see the readings drop.
I hate my scales. Somedays I am heavier than the day before. Somedays I eat clean and exercise lots and the scales don’t even move. Somedays it even registers a 2 or 3 lb gain only to see it disappear two days later, but not before it has left me deflated. Rather than being a useful tool to monitor my progress, it has became the barometer of my state of mind and it dictates my behaviours (which are normally eat less and do more). I know this and still I cannot resist stepping onto it.
And, in my pursuit of weightloss, I have taken my eye off the prize. I hated and hate being fat. Despite being relatively fit, I still look in the mirror naked and see fat. When I am doing star jumps, push ups and and mountain climbers, I am painfully aware of the fat that hangs dripping from my body. I want to lose this fat. So why do I measure my weight loss when in actual fact I should be measuring my fat loss? By focusing on weight loss, I am negelecting the need to maintain (and increase) lean tissue.
When I first started I weighed 354 lbs and had 185 lbs of fat and 169 lbs of lean tissue. Now, weighing in at 181 lbs I have 36 lbs of fat and 145 lbs of lean tissue.
In my pursuit of weightloss, I love potentially lost 24 lbs of fat burning lean tissue. This may seem a reasonable sacrifice as I am no longer having to carry and move a substantially heavier body, but this video below reminded me of the importance of focusing on the fat.
So, starting from today, I am am going to change my focus. My weight is no longer the metric that will dictate my life or be the measure of my success. From today, I am going to focus on fat loss and use scales (and not even my scales) to measure my body fat percentage.
And from today, I am going to end my need to constantly weigh myself. I will weigh in once a week using the scales at Forward Fitness where my good friend Elle will also measure the centremetres lost, another better way of measuring progress than scales alone.
3 comments
You are doing the right thing by having somebody else do your weighing for you. The scales can be your best friend or your worst enemy, and it is addictive to want to jump on them when losing weight, after every meal or “bad day”. This isn’t productive, as you say it fluctuates. Having a professional in your corner is key, not only for motivation, but also peace of mind.
Hey, I got here via the article at work – I’m curious for a wee update on how your no-scales approach is working out now you’ve been doing it for a few weeks?? I tried it myself a while back, but personally find a daily weigh-in as a bit more motivational – how are you finding it?? x
Sarah. ..I’ll be honest. I miss it and my eating isn’t as focused. Without the constant personal accountability I don’t feel as much in control. I’ve also spent a few weeks in Italy and Switzerland, celebrated on a few occasions while getting a sub 2hr Half Marathon at the Great North Run. So it’s hard to measure. I start tomorrow on a new training plan in preparation for my Copenhagen Marathon training and will limit the scale use. I’ll report back soon.